Life is short. Paid leave is in pitifully short supply. The funds are never forthcoming. And yet there are so many jaw-dropping locations in the world just waiting for you to discover them.

So how can you possibly choose where to spend your limited time and resources? Where can you find the very best that the world has to offer you the traveller, in your short time on this earth?

It is no mean task to whittle the list of world's wonders down to a mere 50. MSN travel & BBC humbly present list of the world's most majestic monuments, the lost cities most likely to send shivers down your spine, the waterfalls to make you weak at the knees, and reefs, beaches and mountains that will be forever etched into your memory.